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Always changing and never predictable, weather makes a fascinating study for inquisitive young minds. Conduct a three-part study of the microclimate of your backyard, complete with charts on temperature, rainfall, and observed weather. Not only will your little meteorologist learn a lot about local temperature trends and rainfall frequency, he’ll also get some good practice in data collection, graphing, and how to describe his observations.

What You Need:

3 sheets of light colored poster board

Ruler or straight edge

Markers

Outdoor thermometer

Clear plastic cup

Weather stickers (optional)

What You Do:

Ask your child to draw a large graph on each sheet of poster board. He’ll use one graph to track temperature, one to track rainfall, and one to record the weather (sunny, partly cloudy, etc.). Have him title each graph accordingly. Example titles: “June Rainfall,” “June Temperatures,” and “June Weather.”

Before starting the study, help him figure out what kind of graph would best fit each chart. Ask him to think about the kind of data he’ll be collecting for each chart and how he’ll report that data. If he has trouble choosing, suggest a bar graph for the rainfall chart, a line graph for the temperature chart, and a simple table for the weather chart.

Prepare the rain collection cup. Help him clearly label the clear plastic cup with half inch dashes to make it easier to measure the rain each day.

Now conduct the study. Place the thermometer in the yard or directly outside the house where it will get accurate readings. At the same time each day for one month, have your child read the temperature on the thermometer and record it on his graph.

For the rainfall study, ask him to set the plastic cup in an open space away from any awnings or overhangs. Each day it rains, ask him to check his rain collection cup and record how many inches of rain fell that day on the rainfall chart.

For the weather study, encourage him to observe the weather each morning and draw what he sees (sunny, partly cloudy, cloudy, rainy, windy, etc.).

At the end of the month, look over his completed weather charts and talk about how the weather varied over the course of the month and how he thinks the weather this month compares to weather in other months.

The study doesn’t have to end here! Make weather charts for subsequent months for a more in-depth study of local weather patterns.

Learning about clouds in elementary school is always fun. At minimum, it’s an excuse to go outside! Here’s my really simple graphic organizer to teach the science basics of clouds. There’s a space for some words about each type and an illustration. You can also glue cotton balls in that section instead. Shape/pull the cotton ball to match each type.

Happy Halloween! (It’s October now, so I can start thinking about Halloween, right?!) How about doing some science with all of that trick-or-treating candy?! Perfect timing for this fun science book giveaway!

Yup, I’ve scored 3 more copies of the hit science book, Candy Experiments 2, by Loralee Leavitt, and I’m giving them away to 3 lucky readers! If you haven’t checked it out, it’s a must! Click here to read my last post about doing one of the candy experiments! I also suggest asking your school librarian to purchase a copy for your school’s library collection.

The Prize: A copy of Candy Experiments 2 by Loralee Leavitt

Participatingis simple! Tell me your favorite candy by leaving a comment below. (Scroll all the way down to the very bottom of this post to see the comments section. No sign in required to comment, but if you’re not a WordPress member, please leave your first name and a way to get a hold of you so I can contact you if you win!)

This giveaway ends at midnight (PST) on Thursday, October 8, 2015. Don’t wait! **This giveaway has ended. Check back later for more giveaways!**

The Fine Print: Participation is optional. Only one entry per person. No purchase is necessary to participate. Available to US participants only. There will be three winners. The winner will be randomly selected. I will email the winner between Friday, October 9 – Sunday, October 11, 2015. The winners will have 72 hours to respond and provide me with contact information so I can get their prize to them. If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, the winner forfeits the prize and another winner will randomly be selected (in which case the new winner will be notified and the same terms apply). The winners will be announced on this blog once eligibility has been confirmed. This giveaway is solely sponsored by Squarehead Teachers and Loralee Leavitt. It is not affiliated with WordPress or any other sponsor(s). Void where prohibited. If you have additional questions, please contact me!

**This giveaway has ended. Please check back again soon for more giveaways!**

If you loved the awesome post about experimenting with candy or the giveaway for the crazy fun kids book, Candy Experiments, by Loralee Leavitt, you’re in luck! She wrote a second book about candy science and Squarehead Teachers is giving away a brand new copy!!

I flipped through the book, trying to decide which experiment to try first. Tough decision! Should I try the Ghost Lollipop or the Easter Grass Spaghetti? Or maybe the Shattering Peeps experiment? Or the Marshmallow Bottle Launcher?

After promising myself we’d do them all eventually, I decided to try the Puffy Pop Rocks experiment first to see what would happen when you bake them.

As soon as I put them into the oven, I instantly heard popping sounds! Whaaat? They pop when you add heat? I thought it was something to do with contact to spit? Guess not! And then, when I pulled them out, they were smooth like pearls! Want to know why? You’ll have to read the book! 🙂

I’ll definitely have to pull this out again and try some more of them. That means I’ll finally have a legitimate excuse for buying classroom candy! Yesss!

So, now to the book giveaway…

The Prize: A copy of Candy Experiments 2 (which will definitely lead to hours of SWEET science!)

Participating is simple! All you have to do is answer the following question by leaving a comment below. (Scroll all the way down to the very bottom of this post to see the comments section. No sign in required to comment, but if you’re not a WordPress member, please leave your first name and a way to get a hold of you so I can contact you if you win!)

If your class was doing a science fair, which of the following questions would you be most interested to see answered and why:

How can you float a sunken Snickers bar?

Can You turn a red gummy bear blue?

If chocolate doesn’t melt in water, why does it turn pale?

Can you fry a Cadbury Egg?

Psst! All of the above questions are experiments in Candy Experiments 2!

This giveaway ends at midnight (PST) on Saturday, March 14, 2015. Don’t wait!

**This giveaway has ended. Please check back again soon for more giveaways!**

The Fine Print: Participation is optional. Only one entry per person. No purchase is necessary to participate. Available to US participants only. There will be one winner. The winner will be randomly selected. I will email the winner between Sunday, March, 15 -Tuesday, March 16. The winner will have 72 hours to respond and provide me with contact information so I can get their prize to them. If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, the winner forfeits the prize and another winner will randomly be selected (in which case the new winner will be notified and the same terms apply). The winner will be announced on this blog once eligibility has been confirmed. This giveaway is solely sponsored by Squarehead Teachers and Loralee Leavitt. It is not affiliated with WordPress or any other sponsor(s). Void where prohibited. If you have additional questions, please contact me!

I’ve got a cool teacher bonus to share with you! SeaWorld has perks for teachers in California (and Arizona), Texas and Florida! Each park has different perks, so click here to check them out! Here’s my favorite perk: “SeaWorld® San Diego is proud to offer a complimentary Teacher Fun Card to all active and credentialed California and Arizona K-12 school teachers. The Fun Card is valid for unlimited admission to SeaWorld San Diego through December 31, 2015.” Awesome! Thank you, Sea World! 🙂

Week two blogging over at We Are Teachers? Check! This time, I created a graphic organizer based on the science standard that usually appears in lower grade science standards, identifying basic things that all animals need. So what are you waiting for!? Go check it out!